During the press conference yesterday in Bangkok, Pol Colonel Phanthana Nuchanart, deputy commander of the Crime Suppression Division, said Sasithorn Wongpracha was also wanted for dealing in fake banknotes in Maha Sarakham, Roi Et and Kalasin provinces.

She claimed the ex-senator’s wife had someone deliver the notes to her and had given her a ride to various banks to exchange 10 $100 banknotes per time at various banks. She said she was paid 10 per cent out of the Bt35,000 gained from exchanging the fake notes. She also claimed the gang planned to exchange fake dollars at a neighbouring country’s gambling dens to multiply the gains.

Police is now hunting for her accomplices and the source of the fake banknotes, while urging banks to cooperate in the probe.

The van was heading from Koh Samui to Koh Phi Phi when the accident occurred at 8am on Highway No 44 in tambon Bang Sawan. Police suspected the van was speeding and lost control before crashing into the truck.

Tourist Vanessa Paisif, 26, was the most seriously injured, suffering a broken leg and a hip injury.

Three Thais – van driver Krissada Boonyathikan, 25, truck driver Sakol Singsa, 43, and his wife aged 41 – were slightly injured.

Relevant agencies met yesterday to clarify the order and set an initial action plan.

Ovec chief Chaiyapruek Serirak said the colleges would maintain their administration freedom and classes wouldn’t be affected.

He said the order, published in the Royal Gazette on Friday and in effect since yesterday, was useful as it would force public and private vocational colleges to join together to cater to the country’s needs and promote a knowledge exchange and effective resource use.

Ovec now has 886 vocational colleges under its supervision, covering 976,615 students – 425 public colleges with 674,113 students and 461 private colleges with 302,502 students.

The first phase of the action plan runs until the end of this month and will result in the transfer of Opec’s assets, budget and personnel linked to the private colleges to Ovec, Chaiyapruek said.

He said he would propose that Education Minister Dapong Ratanasuwan sign a ministerial order for that transfer tomorrow.

Chaiyapruek said during this time an initial batch of assets and 27 personnel would be transferred and overseen by his deputy.

He said that when the task grows bigger he would propose a division within Ovec be established to handle the supervision of the colleges, while a related law amendment might be passed. For now, private vocational schools would be run in accordance with the Private School Act 2007.

In the second phase of the action plan in March and April, officials would work to ensure students graduating in this period will not have any problems.

In the third phase starting in May, he said Ovec would work with colleges to recruit students for the 2016 academic year based on the ratio of vocational students to formal education students of 42 to 58 per cent.

He said Ovec would try to convince 7 per cent of Mathayom 3 graduates destined for the jobs in labour market to study at vocational colleges.

The fourth phase would cover the 2017 fiscal year budget and the drawing up of long-term plans.

The Association of Private Technological and Vocational Educational Colleges of Thailand chairman, Jompong Mongkolvanich, who attended yesterday’s meeting, said this was a historic move for vocational education and he was confident it would boost vocational education efficiency.

He said a meeting of the associations last September called for the transfer, as it believed doing so would elevate academic standards.

Maj-General Jirapan Bhumijit, commander of the Metropolitan Police’s Division 9, based that assertion on Jan Chaisawas’s autopsy results.

He also said there were no traces of any toxic substance in Jan’s system.

He showed the autopsy results to reporters at the Faculty of Forensic Science at Siriraj Hospital.

Jan’s body was examined there before it was handed over to his family for a religious ceremony later yesterday.

A few days before his death, Jan submitted a petition challenging two orders from the National Council for Peace and Order. The orders cancelled the posts of inquiry officials – a move many believe will pave the way for police reform.

Jan, an investigating officer at Bangkok Thien Thalay Police Station, was found dead at his house on Friday morning after apparently hanging himself.

Jirapan, who was Jan’s supervisor, dismissed a “rumour” spread on social media that the senior investigator had been assaulted before his death. He said Jan had not lost any teeth as had been rumoured.

He added that photos accompanying some social media messages that claimed to show Jan’s bruised body were doctored.

However Kananart Kachana, a senior assistant district chief, said he did not think his close friend had committed suicide and described him as “fun loving”, although he was very serious about his work.

Kananart came with Jan’s family members to claim his body for the religious ceremony.

In a related development the Department of Special Investigation director general, Pol Colonel Paisit Wongmuang, said his agency had no authority to investigate Jan’s death as this case was under the jurisdiction of the Royal Thai Police.

He was responding to Watchara’s request for the DSI to investigate the case.

Early this month 50 police and military personnel stormed an upstairs room in the infamous beach resort of Pattaya. But rather than a den of iniquity, they found members of the Jomtien and Pattaya Bridge Club, which comprises foreign retirees. Officers nevertheless arrested all 32 people, 26 of them men. The club meets three times a week in a room above a restaurant, according to the PattayaOne website.

However, since no money changed hands, the players – mainly British with some Dutch and Scandinavian nationals, including a 84-year-old Dutch woman – were arrested under a Thai law from 1935 that says no one can possess more than 120 playing cards at a time.

Police seized cards, computers and a book of bridge results as “evidence”. Another alleged offence related to the fact that the cards did not have an official government seal on the boxes.

The raid quickly became the talk of the town. Many people have voiced concern over what they say was the lack of evidence to warrant arresting the players, and the fact that bridge players is considered a sport – not gambling.

Shortly after, social media outlets were awash with negative comments. Some people said the raid had tarnished the image of the country, particularly at a time when the government is promoting tourism and sport.

On pantip.com, a popular Thai-language discussion forum, the subject was heavily discussed. A varsity student under the pseudonym “Neung Van Der Waals”, who has been a bridge player for five years, created a forum post on the website that read: “Bridge is not gambling. A case study for the arrest of farangs playing bridge in Pattaya“.

He said: “I can’t believe this is happening in Thailand. It has really tarnished the tourism atmosphere in our country. Bridge, like the other mind sports such as chess and Go, is based on rules and competition like other sports and is available to older people, to whom it has brought a sense of inclusion and community.

“Bridge is a popular card game recognised as a sport. Since cards are necessarily required for bridge, therefore it’s reasonable to have cards when playing bridge. This is clearly legal in line with the Gambling Act in 1935.”

He explained that a book was used to record scores in bridge and not to record money. A calculator-like device seized in the raid was called a “bridgemate” and was used to record results of each round, he said.

To make it clear that playing bridge is not gambling, photos of people playing the game were cut from local newspapers and displayed on pantip.com forum with the caption: “Thailand hosted the 37th Asean Bridge Club Championships at Montien Hotel Bangkok last December.

Thailand captured gold medals in the senior team and the junior team events. General Yuthasak Sasiprapha, president of the Olympic Committee of Thailand, presided over the closing ceremony and congratulated the gold winners on their success on the same occasion.”

If playing bridge is gambling, such a competition could not be held here. Further, the Thailand University Bridge Club was established to promote playing bridge at all varsities and no activity has been reported concerning gambling.

However, those arrested in Pattaya were held for 12 hours before being bailed for Bt5,000 each.

But none were charged after bridge league president Khunying Chodchoy Sophonpanich, a civic activist who is also a member of Thailand’s most prominent banking family, stepped in to provide further information on bridge and how it is played for points and not money.

Aside from being played among local universities and contested at the SEA Games and Asian Games, bridge, like chess, could be included in the 2020 Olympics. A decision on that is expected to be made next year.

There seems to be no clear-cut answer on whether bridge is sport, as different governing bodies have different views. Sport England, for example, said a sport needs more exertion than “sitting at home reading a book”.

Pol Colonel Pornpat Petchpayaban insisted that he was misquoted by media about his alleged criticism of the order issued by the National Council for Peace and Order on February 5 abolishing the role of inquiry officers in the force. He said such news reports had caused damage to him and the Royal Thai Police.

Samut Prakan deputy police commander Pol Colonbel Wasan Booncharoen, who headed the fact-finding panel looking into Pornpat’s comments, confirmed that the probe found the news reports about Pornpat’s alleged objection were incorrect. Pornpat requested to explain to the media yesterday, fearing not doing so could cause disunity in the force, he added.